OverDrive - OverDrive - April 9, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Maple Leafs' defeat to the Panthers, the level of physicality in the game and the significance of the matchup against the Lightning for the Atlantic Division. Ottawa Senators Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations Dave Poulin on the Senators clinching the playoffs, the winning foundation of the team and mentality of the roster.

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Join today and be part of something amazing. This Hour of Overdrive is powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, Overdrive off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker, and up on TSN 2, Brian Hazy, your dog Jeff O'Neil, Jamie Noodles-McClennan.

What's going on? What is happening this afternoon? Jamie, Jamie, Jamie, just the man I'd like to see today. Oh yeah? Because early on in the season you had some thoughts about a bunch of different things That old hazy bee took issue with and man did he take some digs when he had the opportunity didn't he now? Number one talking about I'll tell you right now number one the happy tongue He said night after night. They stink they stink

He said and look where they are now. The Ottawa Senators is point B. And the third thing you said is I have my eye on the Tampa Bay lightning. I think they're going to have a bit of a resurgence. And wow, what a bunch of comments you made that have come to fruition and not one word of apology from all the ACPs. There's no apology necessary because I've had 82 that were wrong. And secondly, I will say this. I thought Tampa would have a resurgence, 100%. I've been bullish on them. I liked Winnipeg too.

I thought they were going to be the finals, those two. But I thought the Habs were going to miss the playoffs, but I said, I've got to clarify my comments just to be factual. I know what they were, mid-80s. Mid-80s, 84 to 86. I said, I think they're going to play meaningful hockey. I was wrong on that front too because, and full credit, this is Montreal, Montreal Canadian and their fans and everybody full credit that organization I didn't see Hudson this dominant this this early. Okay, we all like this one. I thought the rookie the year

He's been unbelievable Secondly, they made a bold move. It was kind of under the radar But I think it helps stabilize the group. They put Caden Primo on waivers. That was a draft and developed goal tender of theirs and it was a big move because it allowed that Dobrish to come up. I'm butchering his name, Dobrish, but he's been unbelievable and given them minutes when Montibon needs a night off. Then you throw in the one I was kind of, I thought Caulfield would get 40. Remember I said that?

And people were mocking me on that one. Now I don't think he's there yet, but he's close. He's damn close. That's the only one that I was kind of like, I could see this guy doing some damage. But you know what? We throw spaghetti at the wall and some of it sticks. So in the end, I think it's awesome for all these fan bases haze you tweeted out What did what was it last night? Did you say just the fact that the three of them are there?

I mean, yeah, it's amazing particular. I mean Edmonton is gonna get there. Winnipeg is gonna get there Vancouver and Calgary, I think that ship is sailed but Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible like Ottawa. they've been a pretty consistent team throughout the year. Montreal is just on a heater and not to take anything away from them. The other teams are just not pulling their weight. You know, the Rangers have been horrendous. And dude, imagine Hayes, the Rangers not getting into the playoffs in the Metro this year. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

And even last night, like Detroit, you know, they outshot them like 23 to 4 in the first period. Not a serious team, man. But then just, that was it. They threw everything at them in the first period. It wasn't enough in the Habs to their credit. Montembeau was great. They were just resilient and they win 4-3 and then all of a sudden, see you later.

Well, you throw in too, Brian, like we've said it all along, these teams that go on a five game stretch one way or the other, it might be the difference. Montreal's won six in a row. You know who's one of the hottest teams in the NHL and it's at the wrong time? Your Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo's on fire right now. They are eight and 2. They're just taking themselves out of lottery, you know, like out of a better pick. And it's just, I'm sure people in Buffalo are kind of going, what the hell and where

was this? But James Reimer's won his last seven. He's 37 years old. Like I, where are we at with that? Like is it just fool's gold? Of course it is. It's fool's gold. It's fool's gold.

That'll be the backup next year and try to flip the other guy for a real quality goal tender and hopefully that you can carry the momentum and hopefully they realize that you need some good goal tending to win games. I know Jamie you always come back with they got to play better in front, but they finally got some stabilized goal tending and look what's happening. You can't compete in the league with garbage goal tending and all these teams and all these smarty pants think you can win. Like how Carolina didn't try to upgrade on their goal. There are another team that's going to go try to win a cup with that goaltending they've had. Good luck with that man. Cause

if they get pounced, I'm going to say, why did you think that that goaltending was good? You can't do it. And Reimer's standing on his head and it gives everybody confidence and you can come back It's crazy. Well, again, I think you got to be careful with Teams that are out of they're out of it and then they get on a heater late, you know, that is a dangerous game Absolutely dangerous. It's like putting stock into the preseason You know in and stock into the last 15 games when you've done nothing. I will believe it when I see it with Buffalo.

I'll believe it when I see it with a lot of these different teams. But at the same time, I said the same thing about Montreal and you know what? They deserved it. Like, credit to Ottawa. They haven't been in the playoffs in seven years. Let's not pretend like I was saying something that other people weren't saying. They had to prove it. Just like the Leafs. If the Leafs win a Stanley Cup, there's going to be people like, I told you, okay, good for you. You knew it. You knew they were going to finally win. But a lot of people naturally are in

a position where they say, you got to go prove it. Show me. Show me. Yeah. You don't just get the luxury of I always believed. That's not real life. That's the beauty of sports, man. It's merit based. You've got to go out and earn it and do it. I will give Ottawa all the credit in the world.

They've done that. Montreal is an even more incredible story. How red hot they've been. They haven't officially punched a ticket, but they basically did it last night. It's an incredible story. I'm looking forward to see what both teams can do come playoff time i don't think like i'd i'd think they're in i mean the rangers have to win out and montreal

has over lose over and the same thing with you try like it's over like they're in it's just a matter that being said here's something crazy too they are but they could catch Ottawa. They're three points behind Ottawa. We were talking, it was a terrible game last night.

On home ice, Columbus are rock stars. On the road, you guys saw it in Toronto the other day. They did the same thing in Ottawa the other day. In that building, they score score they do all these things It was a terrible game last night. So I was constantly Scoreboard watching going. Okay, what's going on in Montreal? What's going on in Florida? you know, you're watching throughout the league and I mean, this is a huge game for the Leafs tonight because you know that that race isn't done yet

They you know kind of at the top of the Atlantic. There's races all around here. So we could be having this conversation a week from now and things could look a little bit different if there's three or four games. Yeah, if there's anything we've learned over the last week or so, there is still a lot of room for movement, including on the leaf front. Like Florida winning last night and Ottawa losing puts a buffer in front of the Panthers and Ottawa to the extent where you have to believe the Panthers are going to finish third now in the division and probably wrap that up last

night. And as for the Leafs, you know, you go into the game tonight where Tampa's two points behind you. I think they're tied in regulation wins, so that's the first tiebreaker. And they played the same amount of games. So this, you can't really picture a bigger game in terms of importance because of what we witnessed last night where I thought the Leafs they no showed for the most part 3-1 was a flattering score line there was some yucky comments after

the game stuff where I had I read them this morning I had to turn away from my phone like stuff like it's so soft and i was like all donald what we have the one clip let's play it here because this is matthew nines who still relatively young player very important player young player this is a scenario last night were

not only did florida out possess them outscore them outplay. They out hit them last night I think the hits were like 43 29, which is tough to do when you have the puck all night But Florida just pushed them out, especially the least best players the least best players completely no-show last night And here's what Matthew Nyes had to say about the way the game kind of played out last night. I Mean it's always physical You know, we expect it when we come in here that it's always physical. You know we expected when we come in here that it's going to be you know hard battle and yeah so we knew it was going to be like this and you know we tried to push back but I think we didn't do a good enough

job you know I think our physicality you know kind of you know I think we were a little bit soft in some areas and you know not through the full 60 so yeah we're gonna have to learn to do that when it comes to playoff times Tough tough word to use man. What the word learn was tough to hear Learn and soft all in there. That's a kind of cocktail that nobody wants right now I know I I get it, but I just I think he was He was being honest in a one game vacuum. That's the other thing.

Then near the end there was some chippiness and all of that. It's just like to me, I don't think the Leafs' recipe of beating Tampa is running guys through the boards. You've got to play tight. Like yes, you can be physical. Florida is a different animal. They're just the way they play their style But Tampa has a different style, too So if the Leafs come out and try and just run guys through the boards and put Tampa on the power play

You can see what that guy on the on the wing does like I this Kuturov if he decides Yeah wants to play on a night. He's dangerous. Well, he's every single night I mean, I don't think you can question his decision to play. I mean, this guy, league of points. I was just... Guys, last night there were some plays that were just like... Yeah. Nick Robertson tried some plays last night that I thought were absolutely... He tried behind his own net to go off the back of the net to himself.

And even Mitch Martin in the neutral zone one time, he put it through a guy's legs, he got by him that he tried to dangle another guy some guy just came and grabbed them and chucked him against the boards and i took the pocket on like that is never going to work against those guys never gonna work that is what uh... i think became clear last night this debate that i'm not even sure how much of a debate it's actually been at who you want in the first round. Anyone but that team is who you want and

Ottawa can take that as a slight guess what Tampa sees it the exact same way Tampa wants nothing to do with the Panthers they're dying to play Ottawa dying to play Montreal and the Leafs are thinking the same thing and that's why I think you're gonna get a huge huge response from the Leafs tonight you better get one and I think Tampa is gonna be flying tonight because that is what the Panthers are capable of doing that's without Bennett last night without Kachuk without Ekblad that's exactly right that's how they that was just a little like a an appetizer of what's to come in a couple weeks and And I'm sure Toronto was like, oh, this wasn't what it was like a couple days ago.

And there'll be a handful again. Absolutely. There'll be a massive, massive handful if you play them in the playoffs. The one thing that I think everyone should just maybe wrap their head around is we don't know who they're going to play. And you're right. You can wish for certain things things but then you better be careful what you wish for just because it may not work out.

We don't know if Florida if everything just lines up for them in the playoffs. If it just Kachuk hits the ground running, Ekblad two games in comes back and is in perfect game shape, all of that. There's a lot of what ifs with everything. You can look at season series, you look on the Leafs have played Tampa really well in the season series well Ottawa's played the Leafs very well in the season series so you're right like I think people going well we want this team we want that team I think what you need to worry about if you're any team Ottawa Montreal Leafs Florida and Tampa

is worried that your team is playing its best at the best at the right time. And you know what? The Leafs were doing that, Jamie. They were doing that up until last night and then just the switch went off. But it's one night. You know, it's one night. It's one night.

I think, you know, if you have a response tonight. It was one night, but it's more worrisome for people that have been watching this stuff go on for like a... Because everyone was like, also it's that kind of game and then the words like soft and didn't compete and got bullied around the ice and that just gets people's ears up man like people are like so yeah and I've also had somebody say to me they're like I hear you guys talking like you want to avoid Florida like what does that say about your own team if you want to avoid the Florida Panthers and to what you want to

try to get them in the second round? Is that going to give you any better chance to take them down? Like what does that even mean about your team if you're... I think what people are hoping for is injuries. Like I think that's where it's at. Okay, but what kind of world is that? Listen, I'm just telling you. You think the Colorado Avalanche are like, ah man, I hope Vegas plays Dallas.

The Colorado Avalanche are like, it on man give us Dallas give us big We don't care and anybody Vegas is like give us whoever we don't care Well, that's what Florida's saying Florida's like we don't care either. Yeah, like they don't give a rat's ass I they don't care and listen they were due for a game like that last night They lost five in a row the lead ran into them earlier in the year the same thing the first time they played Florida Panthers have lost three or four in a row and sloppy and Maurice was on them and snapping and In Florida beat them pretty handily that night, too So there is you know ebbs and flows over a season of course

But it it it's not at all surprising that the psyche of a fan base that has been absolutely surprising that the psyche of a fan base that has been absolutely tortured forever is uneasy with things. I mean, that's where Leaf fans are. And it's unfortunate, but it's the truth and it's the reputation that this team has built up by their own doing and by their own history that it really wouldn't matter who they play. Leaf fans would feel anxiety and feel nervousness. I think it's even more amplified when you play a team like Florida who got them in the fashion they did two years ago, who are the cup champs, who seemingly snap their finger when they want to and say, okay, now we're going to show you how we play.

They did that last night. That's going to mess with your psyche. I've had the same experience as you guys, I'm sure have. Talking with Lee fans and texting with friends and family members, because we've been discussing this the last week or so, the idea that players are starting to prepare for the playoffs. You know, like the playoffs are coming and you start to change your tune and you can feel a little bit of a different buzz and vibe around the team and fans are starting to prepare as well and they're doing so by putting a shield up.

That's what they're doing. That's what Lee fans are doing. To find the shield. The shield is they're going to do it again. It's going to happen again. Oh, the negative, like the negative stuff. They're digging a bunker in their backyard to put a TV into it and they're going to watch the games and if something bad happens they're just going to close the bunker and ignore

all their other Montreal Canadiens. It's unfortunately an annual tradition until the team allows them to feel differently. To change it. It has to happen. It has to happen. Like the players, the core players, every player on this team, the whole organization, they've got to burst through this because of this mentality we're talking about. It is, it's a sickening feeling that you're preparing for the worst all the time. But how could you expect anything different

when we're in year nine and they've run into it every year and found a way to be out in the first round? And I think that was amplified again last night. It can flip if they play great tonight That's the reality, but I think leaf fans are kind of preparing for the playoffs and last night didn't help them Yeah, it's a fair comment, but I always look at it in a vacuum going Okay, you know it's one game and you're right if they have a bounce back

Then it looks like then now all of a sudden they can you know the win the division and and it would be great That would be an awesome start but it's not a nine years in a vacuum though. The one thing I'll give this to the Shearers is they've had they've had some bounce backs where they've had some performances where like God I hate that and they come back and they play better like that coach does a pretty good job of getting those guys fired back up and they'll have a performance tonight I'll almost bank on it. I don't need one. Yeah. And I'd be surprised to if they like their best players in particular, like Matthews

and Warner, they didn't piss a drop any of those guys. They were awful last night. They didn't have a game. Again, Florida showed up. Florida's allowed to play. They played well. Florida deserved that win. They had to get a win.

They lost five in a row. It's a tough place to play. And if you end up playing them in the playoffs, then you got to find a way they lost five in a row uh... it's a tough place to play and if you give you a plan of the blast and you got up you got a final it a beat-up four times like you know you're not just gonna lay laid out and say you you go ahead and go back in a cup run but florida's gonna be very difficult to be four times if they're healthy that includes tampa toronto whoever they might play

that's gonna be the reality but yeah if you're the leaves and i think if you're the best players any gets to listen that tonight joseph was great they didn't lose his wall last night he was outstanding you gotta have a response and i think tampa will have one to because they're cooking right now they've been playing great for the last couple of months and again they're they're they're not stupid down there they'd they prefer that i said publicly nobody will

you'd obviously prefer to play Ottawa instead of Florida Well, that's what you're thinking right now. Yeah a hundred percent, but it's because of what you laid out Ottawa just made the playoffs for the first time that core. This will be their first taste now There's guys on that team that have one cups David Perron and Mario That's why that's why Steve Stahelsam went and got those guys, their cousins to help around those young guys to grow. But every team will go, yeah, would I prefer to play Florida or Tampa or Ottawa? Well, that's the case because Florida, we have a sample size. Tampa, we have a sample size. Don't have a sample size on Ottawa. And right now what you just laid

out, the sample size for the Toronto Maple Leafs in that core Is it hasn't been deep runs? So until we see otherwise, that's the mindset. That's real And you're right like conversely Ottawa. I'm sure is saying we want the Leafs instead of Tampa, right? Like they're rooting for the Leafs tonight I would they're not gonna say that publicly but you know They're thinking that because of the Leafs history and and the sense of beat them three times this year and played them well. So again, I think if we played the truth serum game. Dude, all of them would say, give us the Leafs.

Yeah, take our chances with the Leafs. But you're right. And but it's not just in the Atlantic. I think, you know, you're right. The Colorado Avalanche, they probably go bring on whoever but but Dallas is a hell of a team like that's you know, that's that's gonna be a killer series killer and unbelievable because both of those teams are legitimate cup contenders like legitimate and You know, I think other teams are going okay

Let those two be the hell out of each other because that's probably gonna be a seven gamer and all of that and maybe you know If they limp out of it, maybe we can catch them. That's the that's the thought process. But I just I don't see. I know you guys felt like there might be, you know, one maybe team that gets dummy type of thing. I just with the way teams are playing right now, I just don't see like any teams being dummy in the first round.

I just don't. There's just definitely there's going to be series that are going to elevate above and beyond in terms of the spotlight up here. And if there are five Canadian teams that are going to get there, we think there will be. If you have a battle of Ontario, battle of Florida, Dallas versus Colorado, it'll be interesting to see what kind of play Vegas, Minnesota gets up here. Carolina Jersey.

Well, dude, to Gary's point, he's kind of got a point. Again, the first round, if you get Ottawa, Toronto, and Florida, Tampa, and Colorado, Dallas, that's pretty exciting stuff. I know good teams are going to get punted early and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense But if you want to talk about jacking up the excitement early on in the playoffs, that's pretty good, man You're pretty good. Yeah, it is usually the first round has that type of excitement and then there's a Depending on what there's some lulls and then until it ramps up again in the semifinals and the finals all of that But I think you know what it is is that that first round is so crazy like it's just electric on so many

different fronts so you know we'll see and then the matchups seem to be for the most part you know I don't know I don't think they're 100% cemented but you know leaning there's percentages yeah but they're trending certainly in that direction again Florida that was pretty big last night for Florida to More or less solidify third place. I guess technically they still could catch Tampa. They could catch the Maple Leafs for sure And as we said about 15 minutes ago, like things change pretty quickly in this league And yeah, you know on the flip side the same thing with st Louis and Minnesota kind of jockeying for position and Edmonton, you know Like they're it doesn't feel like they're going to have home ice and they, the injuries keep

piling up and yeah, I don't think they can catch a lot. I think they're going to shut those guys down right till, you know, till a couple of games before playoffs. Yeah. Sounds like they're going to do that and why wouldn't you? You need, you need health. You don't, you can't afford, you know, rushing guys back and then having somebody relapse in the in the playoffs absolutely I think they're they're gonna take their chances

going hey LA LA is a hell of a team man I think they're a hell of a team and I don't think anybody can sleep on them but you know I think Edmonton would probably try and take their chances and try and get health instead of you know home ice that's got to be the priority and they may not have a choice anyway. These guys aren't like that close to returning. I mean it doesn't sound like McDavid's that close maybe another week or so. Same thing with Dry Settle and Nugent Hopkins is not going to play tonight. He's out due to illness.

So yeah it looks like they're just going to kind of find a way to back door in and they'll start in LA. Dave Poulin is coming up. Dave Poole will join us later this hour on Ottawa making it back to the playoffs. Poole has been there for a couple of years and this has got to be very encouraging and I'm sure they should be incredibly happy with what they've built and how they've performed this year. A lot of things have broken away and they're going back to the playoffs.

What if Poole came on? Poole Pooley left us what lives last January 1st? So what if Pooley came on and just was like yeah, it's the team I put together like just I want fruit Steyo's under the bus Yeah, it's all So yeah, you know, it's what if you were just literally like this was all me and you know I was on the desk I wrote down a bunch of players names and I handed it to Steyos and he made the transactions and now we're in The call I was I was waiting for you to go Oh, I gave Pooley a lot of the ideas and Pooley executed it. So

on the panel That could be true too. Well, we'll promote that idea Alright, so Pooley's coming up. We got James Duffy will join us from Augusta National Brad coming up we got James Duthie will join us from Augusta National Brad Faxon coming up later this afternoon as well as we're on the eve of the Masters we're gonna have him was on fire today on the golf channel the golf channel was on fuego today everyone had their green kind of outfits on that Gary player was wheeling around the park that's it for him this is the last year dude that's it a week before the tournament he said it's him this is the last year and dude that's it a week

before the tournament he said it's the worst major if I'm Freddie Ridley just call him up and say that's it for that's it we don't want the scissor kicking on the gas why you notice how Craig Stadler just has a stake in some booze and he goes home yeah he doesn't play in the par three. He's not a problem for anybody. Stads just gets creamed in the butler cabin and he goes home. Stads look great in that team picture. Dude, he had such a great meal after that meal. He was so happy. When do I start wearing my sweatshirt?

Well, I was thinking tomorrow. Yeah, because I was thinking about it today. I'm going to wear it tomorrow and Friday. I'm wearing the exact same quarters if I were yesterday only in green Because last year I blacked out outside of the pro shop last year and just said get me one or two of everything you can find in there And this is the week for me to pull them out. So yeah, I think we do Hoodie tomorrow hoodie Friday as we commemorate the shark himself and the meltdown back in 96. So we'll get to our picks later this afternoon.

Again, Leafs Tampa tonight, the Vlade signing is official. He has officially put pen to paper. Vlade Gero Jr. is locked in, 14 years, 500 million. Another very impressive win last night. Easton Lucas looked great on the mound. Jay's back in action in Fenway tonight or at Fenway tonight So we'll look ahead to that as well a little bit later this afternoon and Lucas back in Dallas tonight It's gonna be a good one overdrive continues TSN 1050 and on TSN 2

All right overdrive continues powered by fan duel bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score We get James Duffy from Augusta National in just over half an hour. We do a little mini Jerry today. We've been doing a lot of mini Jerry's recently. Yeah. Yeah. I figured we just rapid fire mini Jerry's because there's so much stuff going on right with the Leafs in Tampa tonight. Mini Jerry's for life. Jerry might have passed away. I think it's great. My concern is that mini Jerry's gonna go over so well that like the real Jerry may not return But I think he has to he will I think every six weeks the big Jerry says step aside Yeah back, right? Yes. I think you you might be onto something there

So we'll reach out to him and see what his schedule is like But maybe a mini Jerry for Pooley saying what percentage did you put on that the second year in Ottawa you'd be in the playoffs? Oh yeah I love it let's bring him in here he is the senior VP of hockey operations with the Ottawa Senators they've got the X beside their name they're off to the playoffs here's Dave Poole and what's happening Dave? Gentlemen that X is a very big X. It's a large X when you're watching it and it feels like we've been playing in the playoffs for the last, I don't know, six weeks. Like every night you're watching the scoreboard, you're watching the standings and you're involved in a one goal game and It's just torturous up there. You can do very little about it once the game starts, you guys know. And it was such a weird night because we didn't play well. There was a game and literally as we were going down the elevator Montreal popped

two empty net goals. And so by the time we get down the locker room you walk into the coach's office and it was pretty quiet in there in there they're not happy at all and within five minutes the whole thing had turned around and there was a celebration going on with the players that was very proud. Yeah as you should be and OASP I guess we might as well follow it up and have you ask we were doing a mini Jerry on the likelihood that you guys would make the playoffs this year if you could take us back to September. What was the expectation in the room and what was the percentage you would have put on the likelihood that you guys would have gotten that X beside your name at some point?

I was way smarter when I was in your seat. Like way smarter. When I was doing this show and when I was doing the panel with, oh we were all over things like this. We like the group we put together. You know, we made some significant changes and I arrived here a year and a half ago, so literally on December 31st, January 1st, and what we talked about at first

was taking the rest of last year to try and figure out what we had. And it included, you know first was taking the rest of last year to try and figure out what we had. And it included, you know, did we have anything in Belleville that could help or could we, you know, what would happen down there? Because you know, the organization from once again, from doing the games from the broadcast, but you really don't know it from watching our an every night basis. And we really did try and drill down on what we had and to try and figure out if we supported this core group with a couple more veterans, changing the goaltending situation. And so we had made those changes.

So going into the year, you know, we were confident that we'd scooped up the goaltending situation with Lena Salmark and we liked the moves we'd made, but you don't know what kind of an impact they're gonna have on the rest of the group. And we didn't have David Perron out of the group, out of the gate at all, for personal reasons originally, and then injury. And we seemed to have somebody key out. We were missing our Tim Zube for the good portion

of the first part of the year. And so Jake Sanderson didn't have his regular partner and then You know as we started to get healthy and it was probably about Christmas when we started, you know what it was guys It was during the World Junior Road trip. I mean we were on that was nine straight games on the road broken up by Christmas And it was like if we can come out of this part. Okay, we're gonna be okay here And that was probably that was probably breaking even through that nine game stretch was probably what put us in a good seat moving forward in the second half of the year.

So Pooley, you just outlined some of the moves. Is there one thing that you can put your finger on is maybe the biggest impact? Was it, you know, Lena's coming in? Was coming in? Was it Travis Green, his impact of coaching the veteran players that you mentioned in Peron and Amadio, guys like that? Or is it just a combination of everything or internal growth of some of your players like Batherson who has really found another level this year? Has it been one thing or just a combination? It really is a combination of all those things. One name neither one of us have mentioned that had a big impact was Nick Jensen.

You know the trade for Jacob Chickren and everyone was like, oh geez, he moved Chickren and you know he's had a great year and he has had a tremendous year and got the big contract in Washington but he simply didn't fit with the way we were made up on the left side. And what Jensen did was give Thomas Chabot a partner that seemed to fit perfectly, and Chabot has had a tremendous year. And so it really is a little bit of everything. It is that internal growth that we talked about last year, and could guys take steps? And really pointedly went out, and we did bring a little pedigree swagger in, Stanley Cups

with David Perron and Nick Cousins and Michael Amadio. So there's a little bit of that in the room. And then we had a couple of guys that we signed because, well, one was coming back to Belville, that was Matthew Highmore, and Adam Gaudette comes in and it's just had a terrific year, guys, in the fourth line, center hole, and has contributed offensively. And those two guys were targeted for Belleville. And Travis had coached both of them in Vancouver, and so he was comfortable with them.

So you need guys like that, that you aren't expecting at the start of the year to be big actors to come in and do something. But it really has been a total team effort. And if Steve Stales talks about one thing more than any other thing, it's the culture that we had to change here. We had to change the culture of the room down to the individuals, down to the kid that cleaned the room down to you know every trainer the way we walked around here the entrance that we entered the building in is now different. We have our own private entrance into our own locker room area and all those little details he does not miss one single thing in terms of details and so a large part of

that is giving these guys a little bit of a swagger and a little bit of a, hey you know we're the Ottawa Senators. Bully, the one guy that's always had swagger is the captain Brady and there's always been the connection or the lack of connection to the playoffs like how fired up do you think that cat's going to be in the first night like are you going to have to calm him down or is it going to be just so exciting for the organization, the players to just say maybe just watch that guy and see how fired up he is because it will be the ultimate example of leadership to just follow his lead in the playoffs?

Oh, I am never going to try and calm Brady Kachuk down, trust me. I want him to go. It would be like trying to calm you down on the panel. You can't do it. Impossible. You're fired up and you're going and you're emotional and that's what makes it all work. He took another step with the Four Nations in terms of his leadership. Jake Sanderson took a big step at the Four Nations and that's the beauty of those tournaments. Everyone says, well, you lost a few few games to injury but what those guys brought back from that competition they're just different as players and from a confident standpoint

Brady's day to day operation is exactly what you see he is fired up you know that car is literally the first one in the parking lot every morning and I'm here early. That car is in the parking lot and he's here and he's got everybody fired up inside and he can't wait. He and Thomas Shavada both played north of 500 games without playing a playoff game, which is a crazy stat and there's a lot of excitement about that. As there should be with Dave Poole and Ottawa clinching their playoff spot last night. And we have been discussing it a lot here in Toronto about what these matchups could look like Pooley. There's a lot of people I think in Toronto and Tampa saying we want to avoid Florida.

We got to avoid Florida. Give us Ottawa. When you hear that, how do you respond to it? I'm thinking back to when I played Brian Whoever we got in the first round we thought was the toughest matchup in the entire playoffs It just seemed like you know when I was in Philadelphia when I was in Boston Particularly you'd get the first round matchup said how can we get these guys in the first round? They're playing so well right now and you know,

you don't pick your first round playoff partner. You simply don't and it chooses you. And when this all settles, you know, we'll watch you're watching with interest to see what happens around you. And we've still got four games left, so we can dictate a little bit of that ourselves, but it's going to be, it's going to be fun, however it shakes out. Yeah, it sure will, because all these teams, the division has been so good for so long,

and I'm curious about, when you talk about how great it was last night when you realized you clenched, and the journey, and the turnover with yourself coming in and Staios and Travis Green, even Michael Anlauer, a new owner, the division like the daunting task of catching up with the Florida's and the Tampa's and Boston's been so great for so long and the Leafs in the regular season have been a stalwart for almost a decade now. How would you compare and contrast like where this division stands today to where it maybe

was when again you're on the panel a couple of years ago. Well it looks like it is going to change a little bit. It may change if Montreal continues their play and makes the playoffs. There's five Atlantic teams. So at the start of the year, if you wanted to make the playoffs in the Atlantic, you had to say, well who's coming out? No one was suggesting that Boston was. Everybody was like, well Detroit's coming, Buffalo's coming, you know, and no one was suggesting that Boston was and, you know, everybody was like, well, Detroit's common. Buffalo's common. You know that.

And you know, we wanted to think we were coming. You knew Montreal was a good team. I'd done a bunch of their games over the last couple of years. You knew they were coming and no one was suspecting that one of the two divisions would have five teams in there and that's what may happen. So, um, it's a challenge. And you know, we played, you try and figure out the schedule and, it's a challenge and you know, we played, you try and figure out the schedule and you're looking at it and like, well, you know, it's got some home games coming up, but going into last week, you know, we had Tampa and Florida,

you know, twice in three days in our building. And you're thinking, wow, you know, you've got to get through these games. And we played well in both and won both and our goaltending was good in both. And then you breathe a little bit and then you've got Columbus coming in who's fighting for it. And so I think part of our every night competition is what makes it good and it really does. You cannot take a night off. We've had some of our toughest games against some of the teams that aren't even going

to make the playoffs this year. So Poole, now that the X is beside the team's name in the standings, internally, do you talk to Greenie and talk to the staff and see if guys are nicked up? Do you look at planning out the next four games? What's best to ramp up for the playoffs? Maybe some rest for some of the key guys or is it just to allow Travis to deploy the way he wants to deploy? Travis will deploy. Stevie and he have a great relationship and we're in on the conversations.

I really do have to applaud our coaching staff from top to bottom. They've just done a great job. I believe going into last night, we were tenth in goals against and we finished what, 26th to 28th last year. That kind of a turnaround in goals against is getting a buy-in and that has been their focus. But Travis has done a terrific job and his group, Mike O and Nolan Baumgartner and Daniel Alfertson is the coach, guys.

The way he's bought into this has really been fun to watch and Ben Sexton does a great job and Justin Peters in that. So it's the coaching staff that you really look at and really applaud in this, and they will dictate who plays. And we're still limited. It can't be a wholesale unless you've got some injuries because you're still limited with the four recall rule from the American Hockey League.

So you've still got some limitations on what you can do from a cap standpoint. It looks like we may get Nick Cousins back here late in the year so we'll have to figure out whether that's in the regular season or not. We do have room to bring him back financially and you know he's just going through his testing so that would be a big plus late in the year to inject that experience back in the lineup. Absolutely. Well, like you said, four more to go, but then it is go time in about ten days and the Ottawa Senators back in the dance and it's going to be a blast to see how you guys play and where this story ends because it's been a lot of fun to watch you guys all year.

Great stuff, Pooley, appreciate you doing this. Congrats to you and everyone there in Ottawa and we'll chat up again soon. Maybe in ten days, maybe you'll be in town, who knows? We'll see. We may very well be guys. And hey, real quick, I just wanted to mention, you know, as the excitement of the playoffs and with OV and everything else and two names, you know, that I got to know over the years and Greg Millen and today we hear about Ray Shiro, these guys are far too young to be leaving our great game and both were great, great hockey people and that's what they were. Ray sort of had a special connection with because his dad had coached the Flyers and

I was a Flyer so he was in college when I was a Flyer. And then Millsie obviously we all knew through the TV world as much as the goaltending world and the NHL world but it's a somber moment when we lose great names like that. We're coming into our playoffs and we're all so excited to be a part of things and we lose two great names from the game. Absolutely. Very well put. Thank you, Pooley. We appreciate you doing this. Okay, guys. Have a great day. Enjoy the hockey. Absolutely. There's Dave Poole. Yeah, I mean, that's important messaging. Obviously, everyone

here at Overdrive TSN thinking of the Millen family, the Shiro family, back to back days, big hits for the hockey community. Devastating, yeah. I mean it's awful and I'm sure we've all crossed paths with them. Greg Millen, I stayed in touch with quite a bit in color and all of that. And Shiro, I mean I remember Shiro coming to see us at the draft one time That's right. It's just a wonderful. It's a wonderful person. So really sad stuff like it's just Yeah, there's no words. It's just it's a terrible couple days for everyone in hockey and especially their families obviously

Absolutely, absolutely All right, James Duffy in about 20 minutes mini. Mini Jerry's coming up. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050N on TSN2. All right, James Dutley will join us in about 15 minutes. Leafs Lightning tonight. Blue Jays, Red Sox at Fenway tonight. Raptors at home, wrapping up their home schedule. We got Luca back in Dallas tonight.

Oh my God. Street clothes against the Lakers. You forgot to say the first place blue jays first place blue jays man they look good last night George Springer to use I don't know what this guy got up to fire he's on fire a good offseason that's what he did a great offseason and he was batting cleanup last night that's four home runs out of the cleanup position because him and us is three he's got one I don't think they had more than four or five all year

In the cleanup position last year They've already hit that marker and it's April 9th with Springer and him and as you'd enjoy the ups While they're there because I still don't think they're that good They've had some nice nice things happen and some at least it's not like three one Remember the three one losses where they couldn't hit to start last year? It was embarrassing. That was tough, man. Oh, it was gross to watch. So at least it's somewhat entertaining.

There's some positive stories. The contract's out of the way. Hopefully he can start cooking now because he's not. So well, the details on the contract, like the signing bonus it's a five hundred million dollar contract and i think three hundred twenty five million is in the form of signing bonuses which will spread out over the course of the fourteen years but uh... i'm not sure exactly what that's all about so you're telling me is going to do the austin matthews program where every july first or whatever is going to go to the mailbox

and there's going to be a i think so Matthews program where every July 1st or whatever he's going to go to the mailbox and there's going to be a chunk of change in there? I think so. Yeah, it's like 25 million, 30 million cash waiting for him or whatever it is every single year. I wouldn't complain about that. Like, I understand why Vlad would ask for it. I don't know what the J's got out of this other than the player and the services and

its commitment to the market. I'm not against it. I like it. Let's go for it here. But Vladimir's agent, get this guy on the phone because he is a brilliant, brilliant individual. He played this like a fiddle. Yeah, he is. What a move. Gets them up to 500 million, all the signing bonuses, no full, like full, no trade, everything, man. All the cards are in Vladimir's side of the table here

what's the reaction though like you're you know you're the voice of Toronto sports Ryan am I oh well what's your brother's reaction to like is this happy or I've gone to the last seven years this guy might be that's all right are they concerned of course the concern is how my brother thinks of it I know how he thinks of it he didn't want to give him this money and here's what's gonna happen when this guy's got ten dingers halfway through the season he's gonna watch it every day in his tight bathing suit in his backyard by the pool and he'll be yelling at the TV why'd you give this guy this money like

that's a negative thing but that's how he's going to look at it. There's just no doubt in my mind because it's so much cake, man. It's a lot of money. It is actually, I think, a perfect example of how the human mind works and how the mind of a sports fan works because I think you can spin it both ways. I look at it, I think a lot of people live in the moment, it's a celebration moment to celebration flatty stanney's a great player all he knows is blue jays he's gonna stay with the blue jays they've missed out on all these other guys you know there are couple games over five hundred the role in in fennway let's

go you know that that's how i think a lot of lot of people will be thinking and then the other end of it is what i would just pointed out you know if they're on pace for 78 wins and Vlad he's gonna hit 27 home runs this year instead of 40 people are gonna be like yelling and screaming as if it's their money you know it's it's not their money it's Rogers gave him the money they spent it there it's there's no turning back Tommy that when this deal goes down they don't expect this guy to turn into some

kind of like you oh tawny type figure where he drags his team into some great things. Like this isn't for putting on the jacket after wheeling around the bases and hitting 25 home runs. This is to, okay, you're going to be the guy now to take us somewhere. It's not just about the money or the player. You're right. There's an intangible element to it.

I'd use Bryce Harper and Philly as an example where he showed up and he was like, yeah, I'm getting paid a lot of money and this is a tough blue collar town. They're going to expect a lot of things, but I'm going to provide a lot of things. Yeah. And guess what team won a World Series when Bryce Harper left? The Washington Nationals. Damn right. Absolutely.

But you're right, man. That should be the expectation. That is damn right. Absolutely. But you're right, man. That should be the expectation. That is the expectation. Now you have a right to be harder on Vladi than any other player because of what comes with this contract and what comes with the commitment. You have to show up now. You got to be reasonable. You can't be unfair.

He's not out on it. He never will be. But he's got to mash. He's got to play every day. He's got to mash. He's got to play every day. He's got to mash. He's got to be a leader for this club. Has to. Yeah.

James Duffy and many Jerrys coming up. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050N on TSN2. You've been listening to Overdrive powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. That just happened with me, Vashi Kapelos. Canada Decides 2025. bringing you everything from the opening, and the momentum. That just happened with Vashikopelos. Canada Decides 2025. Fresh every Friday. Stream on your schedule with the free iHeartRadio app.